Daigo Umehara
"Lessons are all around us, waiting to be learned." ''- from the book "The Will to Keep Winning" 'Umehara Daigo''' (梅原 大吾) is a 2D fighting game player who hails from Japan, is the first official pro-gamer of his country and one of the world's well known esports star. The games he plays mostly comes from Capcom. He competed in multiple 2D fighting games at the highest level and his performances has considered him as one of the greatest fighting game players in the world. The West calls him with his first name "Daigo" or with his first moniker "The Beast" while in his country they call him with his family name "Umehara" which he chose as his gamer name and those close to him "Ume". Background''' He was born in Aomori Prefecture of Japan and lived there until the age of seven. At age eight, when he was in his second grade, his family moved to Tokyo. Videogames were introduced to him through his older sister Hoyumi (穂弓) who often played with him action games and RPGs in their young age. It was when he visited the arcade near his house in the early 90's that his passion for videogames, specifically fighting games like Street Fighter II, began. In the arcade he was faced with a long line for Street Fighter II and because he wasn't able to stay into the late hours he played Fatal Fury, a game made by SNK, instead and making it his first taste of fighting games. In Street Fighter II: Champion Edition (Street Fighter II Dash) was the first time he was able to play against other players in a Capcom game, even with his shyness and having to ask permission to challenge first. This was the game that made him like playing with other players. When he was in his middle school, the game that put him into the competitive fighting game scene would be Darkstalkers II (Vampire Hunter). He would develop a reputation through this game as he sets a 286-win streak in a single outing which was interrupted because of the closing time of the arcade. According to his own words he was playing the character Pyron, a fireball character and because of that it took much longer to reach his win streak and he often used projectiles. Abilities/Playstyle " As one of Japan's Five Gods of fighting games, he is regarded as one of the most highly skilled players in Japan. Like many players from his generation, he grew up playing fighting games like Street Fighter in the arcades and hence his preferred controller for playing them is an arcade stick. Throughout his career in Street Fighter, one of his main characters that he often used was Ryu and keeping his opponent at a specific distance was his preferred playstyle. Though his skill in close combat is also regarded highly as well as can be seen by his very aggressive approach in his match against Justin Wong in the Losers Final of Evolution 2004's Street Fighter III: Third Strike tournament. On the mental aspect Daigo is often in an unfeeling state when focused in his gameplay. He can quickly calculate with what gameplan he should proceed with deal with his opponent's gameplan History '''1990's 1995 The first tournament he ever entered was GAMEST Cup's National Vampire Hunter Tournament in which he lost in the block's finals. Not a lot of details can found about this. 1997 GAMEST Cup's National Vampire Savior Tournament At the age of 16 the next tournament he enters is GAMEST Cup's National Vampire Savior Tournament and also the first tournament when he is crowned the champion. His opponent in the Grand Finals was Onuki Shinya, now known as Nuki, one of the Fighting Game Gods of Japan in which Daigo is counted as well. Both of them were using Bishamon, a samurai who is a wearing a demonic hannya armor. On the Player 1 side was Daigo while Nuki was on the opposite. The first round starts with Nuki slashing below Daigo's character but he reacts fast by jumping backwards. Nuki tries dash towards Daigo's direction. As Nuki dashes, Daigo's Bishamon, which is still in the air, counters with a downward diagonal projectile. The attack doesn't succeed as Nuki blocks it and performs a Tech Hit, pushing his character away slightly from Daigo's. As Daigo's Bishamon lands on the ground, his character sends a projectile and Nuki's character does the same simultaneously. They exchanged projectiles for awhile until Nuki broke the monotony at the 97 second mark. Nuki's Bishamon jumped vertically and throws a downward diagonal projectile towards Daigo as Daigo's projectile bypasses Nuki below. 1998 Street Fighter Zero 3 National Tournament At the age of 17 he participates in Capcom's official Street Fighter Zero 3 National Tournament. He advances to the finals which took place in Tokyo Game Show 1998, in autumn on October 2. International Grand Championship As the champion of Street Fighter Zero 3 National Tournament, he went for the first time to USA to face Alex Valle, the winner of the U.S. National Street Fighter Alpha 3 Tournament. Their match took place in San Francisco, California on November 8. This is also his first overseas tournament appearance. 2000's 2001 In September 2001, Daigo's popularity led to the publishing of a mini-autobiography called VERSUS (known as "Umehon" (ウメ本) or "Ume Book" by fans). The book's content is separated into six chapters chronicling the games in which he competes and includes background stories, anecdotes of competitions, and analysis of his opponents. 2002 Daigo appeared in a U.S. versus Japan exhibition in Japan. American players competed in four games (Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter III 3rd Strike and Marvel vs. Capcom 2) for the right to battle Japan's best players in those respective games. Umehara only entered the 3rd Strike exhibition, but defeated all of his opponents, ending each round with Ken's fierce Shoryuken. These events were filmed for the documentary Bang the Machine. 2003 Daigo won the Super Street Fighter II Turbo tournament in the first Super Battle Opera (Tougeki) and won the same game in Evolution Championship Series when he joined the event for the first time in the same year, making him the first player to win both the SBO and Evolution in the same year on the same game 2004 Absolution 2004 He went to England on April 18 and won in the Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo tournament. Evolution 2004 In this event this was the first time a match between Justin Wong and Daigo was In the Losers Finals of Evo 2004 Street Fighter 3: Third Strike tournament his opponent was Justin Wong. 2008 Return to Competitive Scene In July, Daigo returned into the competitive fighting game scene. He was entirely focused on the newly released Street Fighter IV. Because of this, Japanese arcade gaming magazine Arcadia has included a DVD featuring "Umehara Concept Matches" in its January 2009 issue (released on November 29, 2008) and "The God has returned" was stated in Umehara's player introduction part. The DVD contains exhibition matches between him and Japan's 6 top players such as Inoue, Itabashi Zangief, Fuudo, Nemo, and Mago. 2009 Gamer's Koshien He made his appearance in the TV show "Gamer's Koshien" as the "God of Fighting Game World" on March 5. Not only him but other four top Japanese players has appeared as well. The other four players in question are Soushihan KSK, Mago, Itabashi Zangief and Tokido. They competed with each other and with celebrities in a Street Fighter IV round-robin tournament. On April 18, at GameStop's Street Fighter IV National Tournament 2009 in San Francisco, California, four players from three countries held exhibition matches following the main competition. Umehara, who came by Capcom's invitation, defeated players Iyo, Poongko and Justin Wong to win the tournament. As a reward, he was granted a free trip to Evolution 2009 in Las Vegas. Umehara began writing a column in Arcadia called Umehara Column: Michi, starting with the August issue. Evo 2009 Thanks to his win at the GameStop tournament, Umehara entered the Evolution 2009 Street Fighter IV competition as a seeded player in the semi-finals on July 18, which was the second day of the event. In the third and final day, Umehara defeated Justin Wong and placed him in the Losers Bracket, then advanced to the grand finals only to meet Wong again. The two fought until the last game possible, but Umehara ultimately won the competition. The September issue of Arcadia magazine included a DVD featuring a set of "Umehara's Concept Matches." This was a follow-up to a previous DVD which released in late 2008. On August 7, Umehara participated in an all night tournament called "GODSGARDEN." Umehara participated in exhibition matches in a Street Fighter IV competition in Taiwan on October 10. The matches were broadcast live on Famitsu's web channel. Umehara returned to America to join a tournament called Season's Beatings, held October 16–18 in Columbus, Ohio. He won Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Street Fighter IV Singles competition. On November 26, Umehara and five other top Japanese Street Fighter IV players joined a Nico Nico live internet show to talk about the second GODSGARDEN tournament. The show also featured an exhibition match between Umehara and Mago. 2010's 2010 Evo 2010 2012 Evo 2012 2013 Evo 2013 2014 Evo 2014 2015 Evo 2015 2016 Evo 2016 2017 In January 19 he gave a two hour long lecture titled "Getting Stronger Everyday" at Keio University Marunouichi City Campus. He discussed in his lecture the ups and downs in his career as a professional gamer and his life in general. Evo 2017 2018 Evo 2018 2019 Evo 2019 Relationship Takao Umehara In contrast to other Japanese households at his time, Takao is very supportive of his son's pursuits as a fighting game player. Even though he wasn't sure whether Daigo's choice was a wise one, he didn't dissuade his son from continuing it. Daigo has a very close relationship with his father. Always talking with one another since Daigo's younger years, Takao has a direct influence in Daigo's thought process and opinions. He also let Daigo free reign when it comes to arcades, leading to Daigo's uninterrupted rise in 2D fighing games. Trivia * His Japanese gamer name "Umehara" was inspired by a Japanese player considered the best before him and the player was "Tachikawa", whose gamer name is his family name as well. * His father, Takao Umehara, was a competitive martial artist in Japan who was thought to be at an Olympic level or maybe even beyond but was pressured by his grandparents to take a traditional path, taking a standard job and have a family. * His father also has an interest in philosophy